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Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#111

Post by syshum »

anigbrowl wrote: post #99
syshum wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I 100% agree about the amount of inhumane policies and do not believe the US (or any other nation) are free. It is completely untrue that the only freedoms Americans care about is guns, that seems like that because 1. The Mainstream media loves to cover it 2. Guns are a taboo or unusual Topic for many nations 3. Given the US is one of the last if not the last first world nation that has few regulations on ownin…

virtue signal how much "better" they are in comparison because they outlawed the evil gun No, it's much more common for some Americans to virtue signal how free they feel by the number and caliber of the guns they own. People in other countries don't hate guns, they just recognize their destructive potential and limit their availability on that basis. To the extent that they think they're better, it's because they ha…

>>People in other countries don't hate guns

Hate probably not, irrationally scared by an inanimate object is a better description.

>>they just recognize their destructive potential and limit their availability on that basis

Same irrational justification is used for all manner of restrictions on liberty, but my rights should not be infringed upon simply because other people do bad things that goes for all rights from free speech, to self defense, to many many many others

>>You mean the drug laws that the US instituted in the 70s and then kept ratcheting up penalties on for a couple decades afterwards?

History of Drugs laws go back far further than just the 70s

>>If you were born in the 90s I realize it's hard to conceptualize variations in the law prior to that

I was not, I predate the 90's by a good margin, and I also know a good deal about American History from our inception. But please continue to try to educate me, I love when people make themselves look foolish saves me the trouble

>>It's odd that the people who've championed the freedom to express support for genocide under the rubric of free speech have been entirely absent from just about every other free speech cause in recent memory. You might want to broaden your scope a little bit

Given you do not know me, or what issues have I have or have not supported it is highly unlikely you know if I was "absent from just about every other free speech cause in recent memory" it is likely I was not given I am a Philosophical Left-Libertarian that values individual liberty over all else including what is best for "society" and I largely reject all forms of collectivism and "the greater good" which is often used as the basis for the suppression of speech and individual liberty

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#112

Post by tialaramex »

mushbino wrote: post #56
chrisseaton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not even having a "probation" time after people have been released from prison; they did their time, they are free again I think you're mistaken about what probation is. Probation is part of your time. You're sentenced for a given period of time, and at some point you may be released to serve the rest of that time in the community, on probation. Their sentence isn't over, and they aren't 'free' while they are on pr…

I think you're mistaken about how probation is used in practice. Many small offenses will get you put on probation for ten years. Parole and work release are more often used as alternatives to incarceration. The main issue here is whether or not people on probation should be allowed to vote. I don't see why they shouldn't and I can't see any justification for putting them in jail if they do. It's absolutely absurd.

The US frames prison as primarily revenge, it's about taking things away from "bad" people. Take away their nice things, destroy their family, make sure they'll never get a decent job and so on.

The EU (and most modern actual thinking on the issue) says prison primarily lets us force convicts to reform, we can impose structure in their lives, show them how to be good - and in the worst case we keep them there if they refuse to reform.

The British government fought and lost a legal battle to retain the status where prisoners can't legally vote (and many people who are in jail but aren't convicted of any crime don't end up being able to vote even though it's legal). The EU said that's not OK. You can target criminals who e.g. are in prison for vote tampering, but you can't take away people's vote just because they're in prison since they're still citizens.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#114

Post by s2g »

pixl97 wrote: post #61
ifdefdebug wrote: post #31

How does such an attorney and judge feel after such a trial? Do they feel satisfied, fulfilled? Taking away 5 years of someone's life over a little mistake that didn't hurt anyone? I don't get it: why does a free people like the Americans allow for that kind of sinister figures to be their prosecutors and judges?

>How does such an attorney and judge feel after such a trial? They feel ecstatic. They won. The good guys won again, yay! You have a 10oz pot brownie (with a very small amount of mj in it), that's distribution amounts, 30 years in jail for you. Yay! The good guys won again. * I see I have downvoters... Maybe you don't believe me? I've been working around both the prosecution and defense for around 20 years now, have…

There was a story a month or 2 back about some guy who pissed off a local sheriff.

They raided his house and found that he made pot butter. They tried to charge him based on the weight of the butter. So his small amount of weed suddenly became a pound and he was facing ridiculous jail time.

But yeah, this judge is probably quite happy to be guarding the integrity of the voting system by tossing a woman who did nothing wrong into jail for 5 fucking years. What a piece of shit.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#116

Post by s2g »

chubasco wrote: post #59
ifdefdebug wrote: post #31

How does such an attorney and judge feel after such a trial? Do they feel satisfied, fulfilled? Taking away 5 years of someone's life over a little mistake that didn't hurt anyone? I don't get it: why does a free people like the Americans allow for that kind of sinister figures to be their prosecutors and judges?

It may also be worth noting that judges in Texas are elected, not appointed, the same way as any other politician.

Elected judges are one of the most absurd ideas the US has ever used.

Just shockingly bad.

this guy will probably run on his tough on crime crackdown on voter fraud.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#117

Post by s2g »

zeveb wrote: post #16
akuji1993 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's exactly what a private prison system leads to. You can see the system working as intended here. 5 years is... just ridiculous. There's no words for this kind of injustice.

I find five years a bit surprising, but what do you think the proper penalty would be for a felon committing voter fraud should be? Edit: I'm utterly amazed that this comment has been downvoted to silence. Disenfranchising felons — i.e., those who have committed extremely serious crimes — is while somewhat controversial a long-standing practice. The woman in question committed voter fraud by voting without being lega…

> I'm utterly amazed that this comment has been downvoted to silence

Because it comes off as incredibly cruel.

> while the sentence seems harsh some sentence is necessary

Why? Her crime was trying to vote. They caught it and said no. She believed she was legally able to vote.

There is no malice.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#118

Post by s2g »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #72
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not nearly as dangerous as privatised corporate justice, or jailing people for five years for essentially trivial offences.

Those are also things that we as a society should try to prevent.

Then maybe quit advocating for ridiculous punishment for a petty crime.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#119

Post by maxerickson »

zeveb wrote: post #16
akuji1993 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's exactly what a private prison system leads to. You can see the system working as intended here. 5 years is... just ridiculous. There's no words for this kind of injustice.

I find five years a bit surprising, but what do you think the proper penalty would be for a felon committing voter fraud should be? Edit: I'm utterly amazed that this comment has been downvoted to silence. Disenfranchising felons — i.e., those who have committed extremely serious crimes — is while somewhat controversial a long-standing practice. The woman in question committed voter fraud by voting without being lega…

Looking at the statute, it's not illegal unless you know you aren't eligible to vote (Sec. 64.012. ILLEGAL VOTING):

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/EL/htm/EL.64.htm

Maybe some other law applies?

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#120

Post by s2g »

jimbokun wrote: post #37
ryandrake wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Americans by and large see prison as this dungeon where we store people we don’t like for as long as possible rather than as a place where people who have made mistakes go to get the training and help they need in order to get back on track. That’s the simplest way to explain things like ultra long sentences compared to the rest of the civilized world, mistreating people after they’ve done their time (felon s…

Calling crimes "mistakes" is a terrible euphemism. It may be accurate in some cases. But many criminals commit their crimes knowing full well what they are doing, and with no regard for those who are hurt by their actions, and show little or no remorse (unless they think pretending can reduce their sentence). Now, many are in prison due to unjust laws, selective enforcement, or a flawed prosecution incarcerating the…

Except this was a mistake and ultimately completely harmless.

I don't even see how you can call it fraud.

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